Singaporean Artist Installs Deep-Sea Art to Monitor Earthquakes and Honor Disaster Victims

Lakshmi Mohanbabu’s stainless-steel cubes, placed 7 kilometers below the ocean near the Mariana Trench, merge art and science as part of a seismic monitoring system.

• The installation features three stainless-steel cubes designed by Lakshmi Mohanbabu, located in the hadal zone near the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean.
• The artwork serves as both a tribute to natural disaster victims and a functional component of JAMSTEC’s Dense Ocean Network System for Earthquakes and Tsunamis (DONET).
• The cubes were manufactured using NTU’s LAPIS technology, making them 70% stronger than standard steel and resistant to deep-sea pressure and corrosion.
• Each cube showcases designs from Mohanbabu’s 'Universal Language of Symbols,' reflecting themes such as creation, lifecycles, and time.
• This milestone establishes Singapore as the first nation to place artworks in both the deep ocean and outer space, with plans for a lunar installation later in 2025.

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